


Thinking of Home

by GamblingDementor



Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Growing Up Together, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 08:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11688180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamblingDementor/pseuds/GamblingDementor
Summary: Commission by consider-thecoconut on Tumblr.Benny and Nina were friends before they were lovers, and were lovers before they were parents. Their whole lives spent getting closer.





	Thinking of Home

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Nina is 5 years younger than Benny. The ages I've indicated for each tidbit are her age. If you want to know Benny's, just add 5 to that.

 

4

 

Benny is the fastest of his class, maybe because he's also the biggest, but he can't hope to compete against the grown-ass cops out there in the street chasing after him. Getting a sudden brilliant idea, he outspeeds them for the short distance his legs can carry him and instead of taking the turn, he rushes into the first open door he finds. Out of breath, he finds himself having to explain to a big portly man and a tiny girl why he just barged into the man's taxi dispatch and interrupted their daddy-daughter reading time. Benny only gets out a long while later with a stern scolding and a confused head full of big ideas that no child so small should have, but at least the cops never caught him.

 

5

 

When it's sunny and there's not too many cars on the street, the boys around the block and sometimes Yesenia who is stronger than all of them like to play soccer on the sidewalks. Except that she's too strong and kicks the ball way out of reach and the game becomes to spot where the ball went, rather than marking any goals. Benny is the one who sees it first, up the fire escape around the corner and he climbs the creaky steps to fetch it, except that he barely went up two flights that he falls flat on his face against the metal grid. As he painfully stands back up, he realizes that he's tripped on a litter of novels meticulously piled, and that their owner is not happy about him barging in at all. The little girl he recognizes from the cab business tells him he made a mess of her books and must tidy it up. Benny has never seen so many books at once except at the school library. He never even knew people owned that many for themselves. He throws the ball back down the fire escape for his pals to catch − he's got business to tend to up here.

 

6

 

Usnavi is smaller than all the other boys in the class, always wears scratchy knitted sweaters that are way too loose on him and smells like he stole cologne from his dad, but Benny likes him a whole lot and decides they'll be best friends the moment they're introduced to each other, their first day of middle school. Usnavi looks like he needs a best friend. Excitedly, he talks a mile a minute and invites Benny to come to what he describes as "the best place in the world" after school, where there's always warm cookies and oh, also Nina is there. Benny never signed up for visiting Usnavi's grandma but it's too late to refuse and it'd be rude. The house is nice enough, the cookies delicious and Benny is glad to finally learn the name of the genius little girl he's met before. If she wasn't a tiny girl and basically Usnavi's sister, from what he can tell, the way Abuela Claudia dotes on the both of them, he thinks they might become friends.

 

7

 

Benny's mom gave him some haircut money to get his cornrows done perfectly at the salon. Benny isn't sure he likes the hairdresser, who looks at him like he's a piece of gossip waiting to be spread, but she's so much better than his mom. She never pulls too tight on his hair and the cornrows always last so much longer when Daniela has done them, so he settles for it. What he didn't expect is finding the salon already quite occupied by Nina reciting some Spanish verses to Daniela, both of them beaming in pride. She stops right in her tracks when he walks in and mutters some excuse before running away, and Benny feels like he's robbed her of something he didn't even understand. Daniela explains that she's been teaching Nina Spanish in secret as a surprise for her parents and makes him promise to never tell them. Benny thinks of Mr Rosario and asks himself how he could ever not just betray Nina's surprise but also randomly strike up a conversation with him where it would come up. Her secret is safe with him.

 

8

 

People die, Benny's mom tells him, and leave a gap behind that you must try to soothe even if you never can. Usnavi is a shadow of himself, and also an orphan now. He moves into Abuela Claudia's spare room and though Benny wants to be there for him, he also feels stupid and useless no matter what he says. Nina is much smarter, even in this. She hands out a schedule to Abuela Claudia and Benny and her parents and even Usnavi's aunt and cousin, and all of them are assigned a day of the week during which they are scheduled to dote on Usnavi and protect him from all the sadness. Benny isn't sure things work like that, but who is he to disobey Nina's schedule? And what kind of a best friend wouldn't devote all his Thursdays entirely to Usnavi to make him feel better? But then the only flaw in this schedule is that everyone also volunteers on all other days of the week than their assigned one as well.

 

9

 

Sonny has a crush on Nina and if it wasn't so annoying to hear him talk about her every single time when Benny hangs out with Usnavi (because he can never refuse Abuela Claudia when she asks him to bring Sonny along when he's out with friends), it'd be pretty damn cute. He draws her pictures and gives her coffee, tries to get her to dance with him and play with him. From what Benny can observe, the affection has yet to be returned in any romantic way. He finds Sonny huddled under the fire escape some day, scrunched up into a ball, but when he pats his back and asks him what's wrong, Sonny cries that nothing he ever does for Nina is good enough, and why doesn't she want to just come dance with him and play baseball in Bennett Park? Benny explains to him that Nina doesn't like dancing or baseball, but that doesn't mean she doesn't like him. Sadly, even when Sonny follows his advice and saves up to buy her a book, she does nothing more than smiling and accepting it gracefully. So much for trying to play matchmaker.

 

10

 

There's something weird about Nina and Usnavi. Or more exactly what is weird is that there is _nothing_ weird about them. Benny sometimes spends the afternoon at Abuela Claudia's when Usnavi invites him over and Nina is always there after school as well. There's a ritual when they come home. Usnavi gets them coffee and cookies and they never take more than three, and they always do their homework together until it's completely done. It used to seem odd to Benny that Nina would sometimes help Usnavi with his own homework and rarely the other way around, but even that has become so usual it's not weird anymore. He once asked Usnavi why he was never having any fun at home, but Usnavi frowned and told him he'd just spent the night playing Scrabble with Nina and that was plenty fun. Benny guesses that his own idea of fun is entirely different from bilingual puzzle games.

 

11

 

Rather reluctantly, Mr Rosario teaches Benny how to drive. Benny likes to believe that he's an amazing student who will make him proud, but Mr Rosario keeps saying he fears for his life every time he climbs into the same vehicle as Benny. Lessons are so much better when Nina is on the backseat with them. She has a way of explaining all those dumb driving rules that Mr Rosario just assumes Benny knows, but why would he? He's just learning. When Nina is around, even Mr Rosario is softer and kinder and a better teacher. He goes so far as to promise Benny that when he's out of school, they'll hire him at Rosario's Car Services. Benny makes every effort to be worthy of that promise and before long, he becomes the best driver student anyone has ever seen. One day he'll even be a much better driver than Mr Rosario himself, he swears.

 

12

 

There is outrage at the bodega between Usnavi and Nina when they learn that Sonny kissed a girl at recess today and bragged about it. Usnavi quacks that Sonny is a little baby boy and should not kiss anyone for the next twenty years at least, and Nina tries to soothe him and tell him it was just something some kids do at recess, her friend Vanessa does it all the time, it doesn't mean anything. That does nothing to calm him down and Nina just pats his head and leaves him to soothe himself. When she's gone, Usnavi is still hissing that Sonny is on a path straight to hell. Benny doesn't dare to suggest that maybe even Nina has kissed boys before as well, and it wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

13

 

Usnavi is grumpier than ever when, over a few short months, Nina gets a rapid and devastating growth spurt that leaves him a fraction of an inch shorter than her all of a sudden. He says she's a little child and should never be taller than him, especially not when she's still going to middle school and he'll be graduating high school soon. He doesn't deserve this. Benny is fine with it. Even after Usnavi catches up a bit over the next few months, still growing, Benny is still much taller than either of them.

 

14

 

Nina keeps playing with Benny's new card as an employee for Rosario's. She tells him she always knew he'd get the job, and truthfully Benny accepts the praise exactly as she gives it because he is fucking proud of himself too. His first mission is to drive her to school, he decides, except that Mr Rosario refuses him and sends him on his shift like any other driver. There will be no preferential treatment here. Still, when Benny has some free time around the end of school hours, he sometimes drives by Nina's school to offer her and her friends a ride home. They love his jokes and he finds their giggles and silly gossip relaxing.

 

15

 

Nina wears a gorgeous puffy blue dress, Vanessa an elegant slim red one. Both of them tiaras, and both of them look like princesses. It feels like everyone in the barrio has been invited to their joint quinceañera. Benny has never been much for big parties, or at least not the fancy kind. Mr and Mrs Rosario have done everything they could to make this the best celebration Nina could ever have short of maybe her wedding. Daniela planned their dance, someone left Usnavi in charge of the music, poor guy, and the food is delicious. Benny gets a dance from both girls. Vanessa dances significantly better, but Nina seems more genuinely happy of his presence here. She looks radiant. The guy who marries her some day will be a lucky bastard, he tells himself.

 

16

 

Mr Rosario agrees that Benny is his best earner, the hardest worker, and as a huge favor, he grants him permission to help with Nina's driving lessons. Not that there is even much to teach her. After only a short hour with her dad, she already knows everything. Still, it's fun to drive around New York with as good a driver as her, not to mention how well she knows it already. She shows him spots of the city she thinks he's never seen. A cab driver has seen it all, but he pretends to be amazed just for her. The lessons eventually stop when Nina gets her license like a charm and Benny misses the time spent with her in that taxi. The customers aren't nearly as good conversation as she was.

 

17

 

After work, Benny likes to hang out at Bennett Park with his buddies. The summer sun, a light breeze flowing through his hair and keeping him cool, and not a care in the world beyond worrying who will bring the boom-box − but Usnavi did, he always does. Rapping each in turn to better shine, or sometimes together, Benny is at peace. One of the guy spontaneously starts to breakdance and they're cheering on him. It's Benny's turn to freestyle and he's on a really good one when across the park he sees Nina walking back home. Their eyes meet, she smiles and gives him a short wave, though she doesn't stop. But Benny has, he realizes shamefully when Usnavi slaps him on the chest in outrage with the back of his hand. Lost his words for a pretty girl. What an idiot. But she's a highschooler and he's an adult with a job and he's got much better things to do than to think about her. He shoves her out of his mind and gets back to his freestyle rap.

 

18

 

It's the talk of the whole neighborhood that Nina Rosario, the genius Puerto Rican girl from the 183rd, is going to college all the way across the country, got herself a good scholarship to make everybody proud. The day she leaves, Benny is asked to drive them all to the airport because Mrs Rosario says she doesn't trust herself or Kevin to be able to drive properly once their little girl is gone. Nina has a glint in her eyes, not just the joy and excitement but a fear that hides much deeper, and maybe even a hint of sadness about leaving her home. She hugs her parents like there is no tomorrow and when she faces Benny, she stares for a few seconds and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. Mr and Mrs Rosario wave and pretend not to cry but Benny is stuck in his place, unable to move or think straight as he watches her walk away through the gate. Weeks later, he still finds himself touching that spot on his cheek.

 

19

 

Before Benny can even begin to apprehend it, Nina comes home, and comes to him as soft and willing as he is and their story together begins. Kissing Nina is a breath of fresh air, the first bite of the most delicious peach, a dream Benny never allowed himself to really consider. It's odd, isn't it? How you can find so much love deep inside you for someone you've known for so long, but suddenly her smiles hold so much more gold and sunshine than you ever thought the world could contain? Benny's heart melts every time she so much as looks at him. It doesn't matter what Mr Rosario says. Benny loses a job, the closest thing to a father he's ever known, but he gains the love of his life, he's sure. A fair deal he'd take every time.

 

20

 

Every single day, Benny sends a good morning text to Nina for her to wake up to three hours later, and at night he can't let her go to sleep without her goodnight text. They message each other throughout the day whenever they think of the other − which is often. They skype, of course, and on many secret nights no one will ever know about, Benny is beyond happy that Nina got a single room in her dorm. They send each other letters the old fashioned way because who will stop them from spilling their love on paper as well? Their feeds on any given social media is a long chain of just the two of them and their phone backgrounds capture the too rare times they see each other, the too short summer and Thanksgiving and Christmas and those occasional weekends Benny takes off. He knows they're being obnoxious about their love, he's not that oblivious. But he is too in love to care.

 

21

 

Nina's birthday is in June but she waits until she gets back home a month later for her first taste of alcohol. Of course, she won't tell her parents about it, for fear they'd judge her or worse, ground her. But she's still not forbidden to see Benny and in between kisses and I love you's, she takes a few sips of a beer he had in the fridge. She spits it out immediately in disgust and apologizes profusely at the stain on the wooden coffee table. He laughs. He wonders if maybe Daniela could teach her a thing or two about drinking.

 

22

 

No one in the world could stop Benny from missing Nina from every inch of his body. The one thing that helps is thinking about the future they keep shaping up whenever they talk, that One Day they keep dreaming about, longing to cut time straight to it. Benny can already see it all and he can see it even easier when he gets them a puppy, their first pet together. Nina says it doesn't count as really theirs if she's thousands of miles away, but the little doggie is part of their Skype conversations every night now and Benny sees in the crinkles of her smile that she is looking forward to come home to more than just him. You can never start too early to be a real home, even with the width of the country between you.

 

23

 

After a great deal of arguing, some words regretted, an ultimatum or two, Nina gets her parents' blessing to move in with Benny. A whole new place just for the two of them. Though he knows she was determined with or without their consent, he understands she's much happier leaving the family home on good terms, or as close to that as possible. And how worth it to finally come back to the same home as Nina every night. Straight after graduation, she gets hired at her old high school, of course, looked up by the kids with starry eyes and of course, she's nothing short of the best English teacher in the world. Some nights, she comes home before Benny and he doesn't miss the dull calm of an empty house one bit. Walking in to Nina reading a book on his couch is so, so much better. And when he's the one to greet her home after longer days at school, he doesn't know who is more excited, him or the tail-wagging dog jumping on her. The freedom of loving her every night − and every day, because there is love in every conversation as well, every kiss, chaste as it gets, every note left on the fridge even just for grocery memos, every meal they cook for the other. They fit together. The day Benny proposes, and though he puts every effort into it, perfect home cooked dinner after the ideal date, it doesn't even come as a surprise to her but rather as a comma in the middle of a love letter long started.

 

24

 

The wedding was planned. Every damn aspect of it, most of it handled by his soon to be mom-in-law. The Rosarios are paying for the wedding, so they claim a right to manage their special day in every way. Nina says it's a Puerto Rican thing. As far as Benny is concerned, as long as they have a big party with all their friends and as long as Nina is his bride, the day will be as special as can be, no matter how they plan it. What wasn't part of the plan, however, was the two pale pink stripes a couple months before the D-day. Nina's initial response was panic, expectedly − though it's true they haven't been the most careful since she got back from California − but even if Benny has no idea how they'll deal with this all, he knows a blessing when he sees one. Besides, Nina's bump slightly but ostensibly pushing the white fabric only makes her a lovelier bride.

 

25

 

The baby is born and Benny never knew he could ever love someone as much as he does Nina until his daughter wraps her minuscule fist around his thumb and he falls head over heels all over again. They give her both their last names − Nina says it's in her Latino blood to be hyphenated anyways. Claudia Rosario-Washington is the most beautiful baby ever born to humankind. Benny cannot let go of her and her tiny body cradled in his arms that could probably fit in just two hands. Nina was shy about asking for the right to that first name. Benny supposes Claudia isn't everyone's go-to baby name these days, but the more he thinks about it, the more he decides it ought to be. He never knew Abuela half as well as Usnavi, Nina or even Vanessa did, but he still remembers her smile and her kind eyes and the gratefulness she poured into every second of her life. Looking down at his daughter, his heart thumps loudly with joy and for the first time, he really, truly understands what Abuela Claudia meant. Every passing moment is precious.

 

26

 

Nina's second pregnancy is much harder on her than the first. The doctor said they might have a little boy and she already delegated to Benny all responsibilities pertaining to sports, because she senses this one will probably be an athlete. Benny prefers to picture him as a dancer. Maybe he should try and ask Pete how he got into breakdancing, if the talent was innate. They might make a big star of this one. However, the energy the little one is bursting of is taking a toll on Nina and she's napping a lot. Benny doesn't mind. It gives her rest and it lets him spend time one-on-one with his little girl. She's growing stronger every day and he keeps finding out new things about her that he adores. She loves to ride on his back or to run around while he chases her and makes deep scary animal grunts. Her hair was longer but she begged to have it cropped like his. Nina says it's quite frequent for little girls to idealize their daddy when they're toddlers − she's read books about it. Benny doesn't mind if his daughter thinks he's all that. Whatever she could feel about him, he feels at least ten times as much for her.

 

27

 

Claudia and Benny tiptoe into the hospital room, followed by the newly double aunt and uncle Usnavi and Vanessa right at their heels. Dawn is starting to peek through. It was a long labor Nina had, much longer than the first and even Benny only managed to catch a short nap on a cheap hospital chair after it was all done and they shoved him out of the room to give the mom some rest and privacy. He only jerks awake when Claudia pokes his cheek with some grinning Usnavi and Vanessa waiting for him to get his butt up and visit the mother of his child _ren_. For someone who screamed for hours and bruised his knuckles, Nina looks completely at peace, better rested than he is. And for a reason. Their eyes meet and she lip points to the corner armchair and there, they interrupt the most improbable sight of Daniela gently cradling the newborn. Her namesake Daniel. Benny offered the name suggestion and Nina never had to think twice. Claudia runs to them, immediately begs to pat the baby and play with him and of course, Usnavi fawns over him. Vanessa cuddles next to Nina on the bed and Benny takes the other side. Nina has two shoulders to rest your head on. Sometimes a family isn't just parents and their kids.

 

28

 

Often as not, Benny and Nina don't wake up alone. No intruders, thank God, but just the freshly awakened faces of their two little munchkins climbing into bed with them in the morning. Benny doesn't really mind. It makes for great morning cuddles, at least when they don't decide to jump or laugh or shout. Nina is the one who is grumpy about it. Benny knows she's a perfect mother who loves spending time with her little ones so at first he assumes that they're making her insomnia worse. But after three times in a week of Nina trying to get frisky only for their room to get barged in, he understands what bothers her about it. It's a wonder they even managed to get pregnant a third time, really. Soon there's a new rule that says you can't enter mommy and daddy's room without knocking first if the door is closed.

 

29

 

Almost always, Benny feels very loved by his children, even little baby Alma who cannot say a word yet and still nurses at Nina's breast but gives Benny the sunniest smiles. However, there are three days of the week when he is worth nothing to them and those days are spent at Abuela Camila and Abuelo Kevin. Then, Benny and Nina are entirely forgotten and it's all about Camila's cookies and Kevin's books and the world that is their grandparents' house. There was a distance gaping between Benny and Kevin that the kids have breached one day at a time. Now they can talk about the way Claudia tries to speak Spanish way too fast but half the words come out in English, the way Daniel is really into wearing his clothes inside out these days because he says it's prettier, the way Alma toothlessly munches on their ties if they don't catch her. As for Benny and Nina, though they love every second they spend with their kids, they also enjoy those brief moments without them. There's a peace to the home when there is no one shouting. But then, the toys lying around unplayed with and the absence of giggles and unfunny jokes really do become dreary much faster than they imagined and they're both counting the time till their monsters get back home.

 

30

 

Nina and Vanessa always share their birthday party, always have, but for their thirtieth one, the party is much bigger than it ever was and everybody is invited. Vanessa dances her sorrows and fears of old age away with an unbelievably proud Usnavi who cannot stop complimenting her on how youthful she looks and how lucky he is. Benny only has to look at Nina to share the feeling. She's with Daniel on the dance floor − Benny was right after all, the boy is no athlete but an excellent dancer. Some days, he still can't believe that they've been together for eleven years and that she chose _him_. But then Claudia pulls on his hands to get him to dance with her and he sees the exact same dimples in her smile as in her mother's, and knows that her heart is just as tender, and he knows this is all too real. Nina and him are in it for the very long haul.

 

31

 

Work is never boring exactly, but it is much more exciting when he has a little big helper with him who is starting to know the streets of New York as well as him. Her rapping skills are also almost on par now and they make the best duets together. He's not sure what his drivers must think of him, Benedict Washington, their boss, and his daughter having a freestyle rap off on the dispatch mic on a slow day but their opinion is not requested anyway. It only comes to an abrupt stop when the door opens unexpectedly and they find themselves staring at a bewildered Nina, a kid's hand in each of hers, baby Robin in a wrapper at her chest. But then she starts beatboxing, Daniel improvises some breakdance moves and the little ones clap their hands as the battle continues.

 

32

 

There's always people asking Benny and Nina how they find time for each other with four kids and Benny may smile but in truth, he really doesn't understand or like the question. When he's at work, he thinks about his family and when he's not at work, besides the occasional night out with friends, he spends his time with them. His wife is part of his family: all the time they have together as a family is also time spent with each other. He doesn't like the implication that his kids are somehow spoiling the time he spends with Nina. All of his children are blessings because Nina is their mom and because they're also his. When they go on dates, they usually take at least a couple kids with them. Benny loves his family because he loves Nina ; the two concepts are one and the same.

 

33

 

Ana comes as part of a set. No, Nina didn't have twins, but Vanessa gave birth to the other baby and they both agree that the girls will have to be sisters, or else they'll have failed everything about the way they brought up their children. It's a striking coincidence, for sure, that they're both born within the same week of November just like Nina and Vanessa were in June, and Usnavi likes to put his own little baby Claudia in the same crib as Anita to pretend they're twins, watching them hold hands and be cute together. Benny likes to hold both of them at the same time and though Usnavi's little Claudita cries with most everyone holding her (never her parents, of course, especially not her papi), she never cries in his arms. Two babies are so much better than one. Benny has been so glad to be a father all these years he's only now realizing that being an uncle is just as fun.

 

34

 

A kid on Benny's back, one at his hand, a toddler at Nina's hip, and Anita's hand in Claudia's at her loud insistence to help her walk, and just like that the whole clan is set for a day in the park. It's summer and they're all plastered in sun lotion, but bouncing up and down at the thought of a fun day out as a family. They have tremendous fun, of course they do, Benny play wrestling with the older ones while Nina sits with the younger and reads them some Pablo Neruda − she says it's never too early. It's a well oiled machine they're running. Each child brought something completely new and fresh to their family, of course, but Nina and Benny have talked about it and they've agreed that Anita would be their last blessing. They count themselves lucky enough that they've reached the perfect family.

 

35

 

 

Every pair of small hands help with the big move to a new better home. Still in the Heights, of course − Benny and Nina will never leave home for good. But they're happy to get themselves a larger apartment, one that fits all their little angels. Instead of shoving them tight in their old one room and a half from when they weren't sure they were going to have many of them, the kids all have their space and even Nina and Benny's new room is bigger. The two bigger monkeys get a room together and Benny already fears the fireworks and mischief they're going to come up with. Robin has one of his own for when he gets stressed or overwhelmed, so he can play with his own things and soothe himself back to feeling fine. The two younger girls are sharing the last one, and Benny already knows where they're going to put all the books − those two definitely take after Nina the most, young as they are. In one long and tiresome day, box after box, they manage to stack everything they own and some new stuff into a truck and back into the new place. Pizza for dinner, then a movie, and Nina puts the young ones to bed, Benny the older ones, and it's just them again. They're so tired they decide to wait until another day to break into the new bed. Instead, they spend the rest of the night cuddling on their old blue couch, thinking of all the new memories they're going to create here. There's hundreds of stories to come and they're all going to be perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Please, PLEASE leave a comment if you've read this! It takes 5 seconds, you can just like, tell me which anecdote you liked most, if you want more of this kind of fics, what line made you laugh, etc…


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